Presumably borrowed from botantical terminology, this term is being used to highlight bright spots in a failing economy... analogous to new growth among a wasteland of dead plants and weeds.

(1) One greenshoot from the high unemployment numbers is that those who still have jobs are finding less traffic congestion during their commutes.

(2) "To get out of high rate mortgages. we are seeing progress in -- in the money market mutual funds, and in the business lending area. And I think as those green shoots begin to appear in different markets -- and as some confidence begins to come back -- that will begin the positive dynamic that brings our economy back." --Ben Bernanke (60 Minutes interview, March 2009)